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I found a pattern for a 20-sided star online (called a Moravian star).
While I printed it out, Kevin went through my wrapping paper collection and chose a really lovely one made of an old German map of Europe.
I cut out twenty of these....

...to turn into twenty of these.

At a certain point, it occurred to me that wrapping paper isn't the
strongest stuff in the world. I wanted this to be a star for us to use every year, a hearty star with a long life... so I decided I needed to make understar parts out of cardstock, then attach the wrapping paper parts to the cardstock parts. I began to cut out and create twenty of these.

The news is relentlessly bad, triggery, and heartbreaking. I go back and forth about these blog posts, because I don't want to seem frivolous when so much bad stuff is going on. But -- I want to celebrate our creativity, and I also want to express gratitude for our friends who've made a recent four weeks of costume parties possible. And I'm also hoping that our silly costumes will bring a smile to the face of you, Reader.

No more costumes for us for a while. But I'm brainstorming next Halloween :o).

And that's that. I hope you are finding some light this November, dear readers.

'Tis the season et cetera, so here's a reminder about how to order signed/personalized copies of my books from my local indie, Harvard Book Store. If you click on this link, it'll take you to the store's inventory of my books. There you can place your order. Just be sure to note in the comments field whether you'd like it signed and personalized, and, if personalized, to whom. I also tend to write a brief inscription of my choice, and am happy to add birthday or holiday greetings, encouragement to writers, etc., if requested. If you're tempted to ask me to inscribe something beyond that, please note that I'll only do so if it's something I feel comfortable signing my name to.

One last note: Though I do still live nearby, I no longer live right around the corner from the bookstore. I can't always get into the store right away, so if you're buying holiday presents, don't delay!

Last year, while searching for appropriate teapot/flower fabric for my Mad Hatter costume, I stumbled across the book fabric shown in the skirt above. That's when I realized I wanted to be a library this year... I've been planning this costume for over a year :o).
I made most of this costume myself, including the skirt, top, and hat. The "QUIET PLEASE" sign on the top is cut out of felt. I glued it on while wearing the top and looking in the mirror (bugging Kevin every three minutes to ask if any of my letters were backwards), because that was the only way to know how it would look while I was wearing it.

Same with the book spines that make up the torso. I found old, falling apart books no one wanted, removed the spines, and attached them to a bustier, with staples, thread, and fabric glue, while wearing the bustier... because the bustier was stretchy, and this was the only way to know exactly where and how things needed …

Leaf season is late this year in eastern Massachusetts. We've been paying attention, waiting for a sunny day to visit Mount Auburn Cemetery :o). Here are some photos, especially for those of you who don't get to enjoy a leaf season.

Now that I'm home from my tour, the mad rush is behind me, which means that now and then, I have little pockets of time for blogging. When I can, I'd like to fill some of those pockets with blog posts about what it was like to write Jane, Unlimited. This is a weird little book and writing it presented some unique challenges.

Before my first installation, though, I'd like to share some really nice news. I'll share it in the form of a humongous THANK YOU to Kathy Dawson and my team at Penguin; my agent Faye Bender; and all of the many readers who came together to put Jane on the New York Times Best Seller List and the Indie Bestseller List (for the second week!). Thank you, thank you, thank you, everyone, for this gift. I think that if Jane found out about this, she would be astonished and overwhelmed. Hm. Although probably the realization that she's a character in a book would trump the realization that the book is a best seller. HA! I wonder what umbrella she woul…

It's really hard to know what to do or how to help in the world right now, with all the things. So I'm going to blog one link for helping and one link for fun.

First, if you have some money and you want to contribute to something somewhere, in a way that will actually get to the people who need it… Well, there are a lot of worthy charitable organizations, but I wanted to point out Portlight. It is a cross-disability disaster relief and recovery organization. At the moment, they are working hard to assist hurricane survivors with disabilities, older adults, their families, and their communities. I've heard them spoken of highly – in terms of their effectiveness and the responsible use of their money – in a number of trustworthy circles and from friends. (As I have blogged before, I like to do research into the effectiveness of nonprofit organizations before giving them a penny, or recommending them to others.)

Jane, Unlimited is out in the world now! And I leave for my book tour momentarily, so it's not really the time to be blogging about something completely unrelated, BUT -- in case you're a person who likes to plan ahead for Halloween, and a person who's handy with scissors and glue, AND a person who has lots of cereal boxes lying around....

I wanted to make sure you know about an Etsy shop called Wintercroft that sells downloadable templates for making the most beautiful masks all by yourself!

They have animal masks, polygon faces, imaginary creatures, etc. As long as you're careful to read and follow all the instructions (and enjoy this sort of thing), it's pretty straightforward. I just made this bear.

Good look at Wintercroft! And have fun! And I hope to see you on my book tour.

Kristin Cashore wrote the New York Times bestsellers Graceling, Fire, Bitterblue, and Jane, Unlimited. Graceling is the winner of the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature and Fire is the winner of the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award. The books are world travelers, currently scheduled to be published in thirty-four languages.

***

"Then, at last, sitting on her stretcher-bed, she took from the very bottom of her pack an old peacock-blue scarf folded around a heavy, square book. She unwrapped it and opened it very carefully, as if guilty secrets might fall from between its pages like pressed flowers. This was Harry's secret. She was a writer."

-from The Tricksters, by Margaret Mahy

Writing is my secret. Every day I unwrap and open it as carefully as I can. Welcome to my blog about writing and life! Above you'll find quick links about me and my books, and below is more about me, ways to subscribe, and an archive of past posts. Click here to go home to my most recent posts.

Finally, a note: This blog is my only online presence. I am not on Facebook, Google+, or any other social media sites, and I use Twitter mainly as an amalgamation feed for my blog. Sorry, but I do not read @-replies on Twitter!